Hello all! I am opening submissions for The Smoldering Gazette, a monthly PDF magazine for Swords & Wizardry. Each issue will be 32 pages long and, starting with the February 2017 issue, each issue will feature a theme that is suggested and voted on by the forum community. The magazine will be released through DriveThruRPG.com at the Pay What You Want level. If DriveThruRPG is not an option for whatever reason then I will release the issues in a forum post as attachments. Issues will be released monthly on the first Monday of each month, so the first issue of The Smoldering Gazette will be released on October 3rd. I will be taking submissions for the first two issues right away.

Submission Deadlines:

Issue 1 - October 2016: September 30th, 2016

Issue 2 - November 2016: October 15th, 2016*

Issue 3 - December 2016: October 30th, 2016*

Issue 4 - January 2017: November 30th, 2016

Issue 5 - February 2017: December 31st, 2016

Issue 6 - March 2017: January 31st, 2017

Issue 7 - April 2017: February 28th, 2017

Issue 8 - May 2017: March 31st, 2017

Issue 9 - June 2017: April 30th, 2017

Issue 10 - July 2017: May 31st, 2017

Issue 11 - August 2017: June 30th, 2017

Issue 12 - September 2017: July 31st, 2017

Issue 13 - October 2017: August 31st, 2017

Issue 13 - November 2017: September 30th, 2017

Issue 13 - December 2017: October 31st, 2017

*NOTE: These two submission dates are so close together so that I can start getting the magazine into work one month ahead of it's release.

I will accept submissions for all versions of Swords & Wizardry BUT the author must make it clear for which version the article was originally intended, and provide any needed suggestions or rulings to allow the material to be used in the other versions.

No material of a pornographic or lewd nature will be published. This includes suggestions of rape etc.

Artwork must be submitted in black and white, however, artwork intended for cover consideration may be color.

Submissions must be placed by the last day of the month to be considered for the next "in-work" issue. (I plan to work a month ahead, so if you submit by July 31st then you will be in consideration for September's issue of TSG.

I am always open to suggestions, just PM me here.

Last edited by Bravesteel on Fri Sep 23, 2016 2:22 pm, edited 5 times in total.

Bravesteel wrote:All articles submitted MUST be usable for Swords & Wizardry Complete. I firmly believe that we need to attempt to support the most commercially available product.

Do you mean that articles must be for S&W Complete only, or can articles for Core or WhiteBox be included (since they are usable with Complete)?

Basically, what I want to see submissions for is content that is intended for use with S&W Complete. I don't have a problem with Core or White Box content, per say, but I would rather embrace the whole rather than stages of limitation(?) perhaps not the right word, but that's the best way I can describe it. I am not going to look down my nose at content that is written with Core or White Box in mind, but I would much rather see fresh content written to address the entire table rather than a specific or limited stage of S&W rules. So if you write something for Core or White Box, I'm fine with that, my preference would simply be to address a wider scope.

I have no idea if I am even making sense at this point. Let me know if that doesn't click with you.

I understand what you're saying. I would prefer that it was more encompassing of all S&W versions especially since your calling it a smoldering forum magazine and this forum is for all versions. Plus I think it might be easier to get enough submissions to fill an issue.

But I do understand the desire for a tighter focus (I'm all about White Box!) I wish you luck with it and I look forward to the first issue.

I love the name! . But like Wanderer I would worry specifically saying "Complete" is far too restrictive to build an audience or entice submissions, and might even confuse those new to the S&W universe. And let's face it - any material written for Complete will work with Core (so why mention it at all in that case), and also with WB if you just change to the d6 standard. Other types of general articles like tables, howtos and fiction are game-agnostic anyway. So it may not even be necessary to mention the version, apart from a standard 'compatibility block' of text somewhere. This is what the original S&W monster book did, and I think it gained a much wider audience as a result. I used it in my S&W WB, OD&D, Core, Complete, and LL games (and the newer 'Monstrosities' book doesn't mention Complete at all, just S&W even though it was clearly written with Complete in mind).

Thanks for the responses guys. I have been thinking about it this morning and I think you are both correct. I will accept submissions for all versions of Swords & Wizardry BUT the author must make it clear for which version the article was originally intended, and provide any needed suggestions or rulings to allow the material to be used in the other versions.

I think this opens up the scope of the magazine, whilst not dividing it at the same time into sub-categories.

Just a thought...I wonder if having a theme might be too restrictive as well. Well at least at the beginning. Maybe after the zine has found an audience you can get way more submissions with a theme... I'm not sure, maybe I don't know the market that well and you will get plenty to start.

The Wanderer wrote:Just a thought...I wonder if having a theme might be too restrictive as well. Well at least at the beginning. Maybe after the zine has found an audience you can get way more submissions with a theme... I'm not sure, maybe I don't know the market that well and you will get plenty to start.

No, that's a pretty valid point. I think I'll set the first four issues as theme-free, that way no one feels restricted with their submissions. I'll reevaluate the theme topic, with feedback from the community, at a later date.

Only 16 days to submit articles for the October issue of The Smoldering Gazette. Send in your work, folks, and spread the word!